Veturia

The aged mother of the legendary Roman general Coriolanus. When her son marched his armies against Rome, the matrons of the city went to Veturia and Volumnia, his wife, and succeeded in inducing them to go to the enemies' camp. As the men were powerless to protect the city by their arms, the women sought to do so by their tears and prayers. At the camp, Veturia pleaded with her son and when she ceased, his wife and children embraced him, and all the women wept and bewailed their own and their country's fate. At last his resolution gave way. He embraced his family and dismissed them, and moved his camp away from the city.